just another day in my insanely real life

In a way Zoe's school is what kids dream about. When I was a kid I went to big, traditional public schools in Brooklyn. Did you ever attend a private school like Zoe's? Eww! But I ended up smitten with that cute iguana. For SOLVING ZOE I had to do research that took me in some strange directions - with codes and also with lizards. Not at all! Seriously, I'm hopeless at solving codes. Yikes! Your second novel, Solving Zoe, finds the title character solving some cool codes with an unlikely new friend. And apparently I was all wrong about this guy, because when he handed back my paper it had 'SCRAMBLED EGGS? WHAT?' written in the margin. So one time I stuck the words 'scrambled eggs' right in the middle of a long paragraph, just as a test. (Not that Cassie writes like them, but they're her idols.) For her joke entries, I thought about how when I was a kid, I was convinced that my English teacher wasn't actually reading my essays. What inspired Cassie's journal entries?įor Cassie's fantasy-inspired journal entries, I read people like Tamora Pierce and Nancy Springer. In your first book, Just Another Day in My Insanely Real Life, Cassie, a middle child, has to deal with the changes in her family and her house after her father moves out. We got ourselves into some mischief, but looking back, I feel really lucky that I met her! So around seventh grade I started hanging out with a much wilder girl - not exactly a Francesca-type, but someone who jolted me out of my comfort zone and kept me laughing. I was definitely an Evie - a good girl who was feeling suffocated by my best friends. Which girl is more like the pre-teen Barbara? Your newest book, This Is Me From Now On, details the friendship between two middle school girls, Evie and Francesca. With thanks to Liesa Abrams for introducing us, I welcome you now to my exclusive interview with Barbara Dee. Her characters have had to deal with family troubles, dishonest friends, big school projects, and, yes, even iguanas. Barbara Dee's novels for middle school readers will delight kids and parents alike.

Just another day in my insanely real life